KUALA LUMPUR - The wife of a Malaysian former finance minister who has close ties to a political rival of Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim was charged on Jan 23 with failing to disclose her assets to graft investigators.

Na’imah Abdul Khalid – the 66-year-old wife of businessman Daim Zainuddin, who served as finance minister twice between 1984 and 2001 – pleaded not guilty in a court in Kuala Lumpur.

The offence of not disclosing her assets in response to an anti-graft agency request was allegedly committed in November 2023, according to court documents seen by AFP.

Tun Daim, 85, is a close ally of former two-time prime minister Mahathir Mohamad.

He is a fierce critic of Datuk Seri Anwar, who came to power in 2022 vowing to stamp out high-level corruption.

Said Na’imah in a statement outside the court: “No crime was committed by me, and I will prove this in court.”

She added: “The real crime is the coordinated plot to tarnish my husband’s reputation... The real crime is the wielding of state power for personal ends and not for the benefit of the people.”

She directed a message to Mr Anwar, saying “power is brief and there is always a reckoning for those who abuse it”.

The court fixed March 22 for the next hearing in the case, during which a trial date could be set.

If found guilty, Na’imah faces a maximum prison term of five years and a hefty fine.

The country’s anti-graft agency has said it is investigating Mr Daim, who has called the probe into his affairs a “political witch-hunt”.

Tun Dr Mahathir has also claimed that the investigation is politically motivated.

Last week, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) summoned Dr Mahathir’s son for questioning over his business activities.

The MACC order to question Datuk Mirzan Mahathir is part of its probe following revelations contained in the so-called Panama Papers, “as well as his business activities involving the sale and purchase of government-linked companies”, the agency said in a statement last week.

In August 2022, MACC said it had started probing “entities linked and named” in the Pandora and Panama papers, which shone a light on tax evasion by the rich and powerful around the world.

Mr Anwar has been accused of using the MACC investigation to go after his political foes. AFP